Monday, August 14, 2006

The BBC Should Fire Orla Guerin

I have never liked Orla Guerin's style of reporting. Far too much comment and emotion. She doesn't report. She emotes. Her "report" tonight on the Ten O'Clock News was a classic example. No attempt at balance. No attempt to give both sides of the argument. Just inane comments like "Today has been a bad day for George W Bush". Oh really? Says who?

She and Fergal Keane represent and demonstrate all that I most dislike about BBC news reporting. Don't get me wrong. Many of their correspondents and reporters are superb. But these two are not. And I would dearly love to see the back of them.

UPDATE: The Drinking from Home blog adds further fuel to the fire by comparing Guerin's report last night to that of Channel 4 News's Alex Thomson. Click HERE.

125 comments:

Lord Simpson (Liberator) of Kabul
said...

She's not known as Orla bin Goering for nothing you know - check out Biased BBC for more on Orla and her ilk.

It was a blessed relief when they finally got her out of the Middle East last time - but now she's back. Apparently she's married to a Palestinian - though surprisingly that never seems to get mentioned on the BBC, even though it seems pertinent in light of her reporting style.

You'd have loved this evenings report on NDR (Nord Deutsche Rundfunk) then Iain. Straight talking about the futility of Israel's attck on Lebnanon and how ultimately counterproductive it has been. Didn't mince words. No doubt David's Medienkritik will be on it like a flash. I'm firmly with NDR though. As to Guerin, she was held at gunpoint once by Israeli soldiers who made jokes about putting a bullet in her head, not realising she spoke Hebrew. She may have chip on her shoulder, but it's understandable. I'd rather her emoting than the faux-gravitas of those pompous ass American tv reporters anywhow. My opinion. Everyone has a personal bias. Isn't it a bit dangerous to start calling for the head of an individual reporter not to your taste then?

Quite agree Iain - this evening's BBC news at 10 was classic anti-Israeli all the way through. It's really outrageous that the BBC gets away with peddling this & yet still has the vestige of a reputation for impartiality.

Macles, it's got nothing to do with her not being to my personal taste. There are several reporters who I don;t like but I recognise that they do their job - report factually. She doesn't. It's as simple as that.

As I cannot watch the BBC living in North Germany as I do, I'm at a disadvantage as I haven't seen this piece of Guerin journalism. Other snippets, for instance the account of being held by the IDF whilst reporting in Gaza, were descriptive, but somehwat emotional (understandable given what had happened), and in that case, filed under "from our own correspondent" which is to a degree, comment and opinion. She may have gone off the edge since.

Do you ever catch the various "Tageschaus"? I find the German reporters generally restrained, and conservative (small c) in their reporting style. However, they have their detractors too (linked from your site). I just hope you don't want to go to the farcical extreme of "fair and balanced" a la Fox. We don't need that, surely?

Don't worry Iain. If the new BBC "Diversity Tzar" gets her way Orla will have to hand over her mic and mini-bar allowance to a local ethnic.Maybe she could get her husband in. The BBC are big on nepotism.

I'm not too fond of her for some of the reasons you mention, Iain- she takes on too much of a US style of reporting, with too much emotional attachment to a story. It isn't necessarily her choice of vocabulary, but the style and intonation of her speech.

I think the reason you give for firing her this time round is slightly tenuous, though. Why can't it be a bad day for someone? I didn't get to see the report, but I'd be content with that comment if she said why rather than who.

It is a bad day for the Israeli Government and their supporters, including George Bush, Tony Blair, and others.

The aim of this past months fighting was to stop Hezbollah firing rockets into Israel, and to recover two captured soldiers. Neither of those things have been accomplished, and a lot of innocent people have died for nothing.

She's an appalling reporter. My skin has crawled listening to her for many years. She and Keane must get on like a house on fire. How many times have we heard, particularly on the 1 o'clock news where standards are even more lax than they are at 10 o'clock:

George: So Orla, this looks like it's been a bad day for Olmert/Bush/Blair. Is he losing this war/argument?

Orla: Well many of the people I have been speaking to think he is...

And on and on and on ad nauseum.

I don't object to her revealing her views on air, fair enough, but I do object to being forced to pay her salary. Whatever your point of view on the issues on which she injects substantial "comment" into her reportage, surely you are able to recognise the logic in this position. If the Guardian does it for you every morning, it's like having a mandatory subscription to National Review upon threat of fines and imprisonment. That has to be bananas.

Ah, so she's married to a Palestinian - that would explain her pro-Palestinian bias. Pisses me off big time that my TV license money to the Biased Broadcasting Corporation goes to finance her bleating.

I think, in order for us to keep the high ground on this one, we should stop peddling these falsehoods about her being married to a Palestinian. If people can't be bothered to check simple elements like that, it doesn't bode well when we're supposed to know a story better than she does.

One thing that does trouble me is the massive conflict of interest posed by her (Irish) Labour Party candidacy for a European Parliament seat, before she joined the BBC. Why haven't any of you bothered to mention that?

Iain, Having both lived in a war zone (Er.. the Lebanon), and watched chanel 4 news earlier, I was amused by her report.

I note that the Channel 4 report claimed it was only the center of Bint Jbeil that had been badley damaged. Not having been there since the cease fire I cant comment on who is right.

What I can say is that having seen some f8cking bestial fighting and its aftermath I am not surprised that Ola seemed unable to find a building unscared by war, as thatis the nature of war.

What I would say in the defence of the "emoting" is that I have seldom met anyone who actualy knows what it is like and so perhaps the reporters are trying to get that accross.

As for balance, that is difficult in war. In my experiance crosing front lines is lethal, so easch reporter has a rstricted view, and cam only report what they see. It is then up to the editor to get an equivelent reporter on the other side to do the same thing.

I must have missed the bad day for George Bush bit, I would not have said it, tjough in many ways it is true.

Who wins a war is mostly a matter of fact, however sometimes, as in this case it is a matter of opinion. Each side plays to their own audience. Nasrallah is better at it than Olmert, ergo, Israel thinks it has lost.

That said, don't lose hope. I thimk in the next Lebanease election they will chear Hezboulah but vote elsewhere.

My problem with Olga Guerin is not that she's prejudiced - that's so transparently obvious; it's that she's a soft, plastic-paddy weepy-wimp in a field of conflict that needs reporters with a tough, nuanced sense of history and moral agency, and some personal modesty.

OK, I can see that if you live somewhere Far Away and engage emotionally with the inhabitants, you start to identify with them, listen to the locals and work up your own terribly well-informed historical view, going all patronisingly goo-ey and one-sided. But usually you don't then insist on rushing to the mic to tell the world What I Feel.

---------macles - "I cannot watch the BBC living in North Germany as I do"

You should be so lucky.

----The Hezbollah guerillas are well-armed by Iran and Syria, base themselves in villages among Lebanese women and children and refugees to whom they offer food and money and er, 'safe' lodging. For the IDF to reach the Litani River and at least moderately beat the bejabers out of Hezbollah on the way without the mass-murder of Lebanese civilians Nasrallah had set up - that sounds pretty impressive to me, though Olmert's poor leadership and PR didn't help. The Lebanese Government needs to do some actual governing, implement UN Res 1559, disband the Hzbl, de-politicise the Leb army and use it to prevent problems on the border, not help to cause them. (Ah, but they don't want to -And they also don't want to fight once they';ve stirred things up. An old problem)

Maybe (to paraphrase the Munich comic Karl Valentin's joke about Hitler in 1944) it would have been better if Hezbollah hadn't caused a war that was forced upon them by provoking Israel into making an unprovoked attack.

If 'Lebanon is witnessing a historic victory' (Sheik Nasrallah) then I give the next outbreak of war two months max. Unless the world suddenly decides to get a more backboned and principled UN Sec Gen.

It's also worth knowing that Orla Guerin was an (unsuccessful) candidate for the Irish Labour Party in the 1994 European elections. Just in case you had any lingering doubts about where her political sympathies lie...

macles, Guerin may have a chip on her shoulder, and that may be understandable. But that does not means she should be allowed to subject the rest of us to the biased bulls**t she spouts, whethere due to a chip on her sholder, fish under her armpit or anything else.

I do not ask her to control or change her own emotions or opinion. What I do demand is that the BBC cease and desist forthwith from giving her a platform, and adding insult to injury, paying her (with our money) to do this.

I thank the person who revealed Guerin's marital arrangements. She stinks as a reporter and I'm sick of listening to her anti-Israeli, nostril-flaring contempt for those of us who don't subscribe to her world view; now at least it makes a bit more sense. Yet more double-standards of course. I wonder how a reporter who happened to be married to a senior Tory would fare in the corporation?

Over on Conservativehome "Daring Dave" to meet the press--no policy announcements and not a reaction toParty unrest!A quick look at his spokes comment that this is not a reaction looks a bit like being "thrilled" with Mayoral applications!!!

If its not OG emoting in full kate Adey mode, then its some deeply unpleasant Israeli government official turning up the "righteous indignation count" to full volume.

A lot have people have died and the israelis have been given a thorough bloody nose by an outfit with a fraction of their military power but I am little wiser on the basis of all the news reporting, until I saw map in a newspaper over the weekend

Not having seen him recently I can't comment on his reporting style these days, however I would not be surprised if he showed a leftish bias as rosemount man implies..

I was a student contempory with him at university in the late 70s -and active in student politics. Gordon was a hardline "Trot" -which particular branch (IMG, WRP, SWISO etc) I can't remember as the extreme left kept splitting and reforming under different banners. (The machinations of Sheridan and the SSP are nothing new to us left observers)

Some of the Trots were quite amusing and one could have a drink with them whilst discussing the evils/merits of capitalism. Not Gordon though - he took the overthrow of the system very seriously.

I was amazed when he popped up on television some years later as a BBC Reporter ((MI5 were obviously not recruiting the year he left University).

Of course he may have recanted his extreme left wing views and for all I know be a paid up member of the Tory Party these days....Nothing like a healthy salary and generous expense account to make one less keen on a Marxist revolution and subsequent socialist redistribution!

I also agree that the BBC reporting yesterday and not just Guerin's was as biased as it gets in announcing a victory for Hezbolla. One of them even said that all the people in the area welcomed the Hezbolla victory! Did the BBC do a poll?

Was Guerin the same lady who cried whilst filming Yasser Arafat's funeral?

I spent five years in Arab countries in the Middle East, Barney. How long have you?

Any resemblance to the truth in what OG is paid by the BBC to tell us is pure coincidence.

And no, I did not have any journalist training, thank God. As a result I am still able to do more than just transcribe selected news releases from the side you support (the key skill for most news journalists these days, it seems) or parade my prejudices in the form of inane and juvenile 'opinions'.

In my time I have been present at a number of events that were reported in the media. On not one occassion was the report accurate; therefore one is driven to conclude that all the other events one does not attend are not reported accurately either.

But we ordinary British people love Orla Guerin for exactly the same reasons that you Tory Zionists dislike her. She tells the truth rather than being Fox News-style "Fair and Balanced" when the Israelis have so blatantly been breaking international law in Lebanon.

The "barneys" of this world always miss the point - deliberately or otherwise. Who cares whether she has a PhD in Jounalism Science or has spent 200 years in the Middle East - she produces crap, opinionated journalism. I want disinterested delivery of facts as "news" not a litany of "cry me a river" sobbing

You've lost the battle in the tory party, the blind pro-Israeli stance has thankfully changed to something more balanced.

All this is just rage against the dying of the light.

I'd rather have the BBC than any of the craven US stations any day.

All news is emotionalised of course, all you're unhappy about is that there is nothing that lands which is pro-Israeli because there is nothing to emotionalise. If there had been the flattening of Haifa and ten times as many Israeli deaths you would have been hapy wioth the reporting.

Of course Orla Guerin should be dismissed. And Fergal Keane. And Fox News should be beamed into every public square on giant screens. And there should be martial music on the BBC. But they should keep the weather forecasts. And did you know they faked the moon landings.........zzzzzz.

By the way, this thread is as good an argument against care in the community that have found. At least they're not self harming through externalising their feelings onto an organisation which is out of their reach.

Thank God they're not representative of the conservative party, probably something more sinister I would imagine.

She has received numerous emailed death threats, and some websites falsely attribute her alleged "slant" to her marriage to a Palestinian - a claim she dismisses as "completely outrageous" and deeply racist. Actually, in September Guerin did get married - but to Michael Georgy, a Reuters correspondent currently working in Baghdad, whom she met in Bethlehem. "And he's not Palestinian."

I've spent a lot of time in the Middle East and have been to Gaza many times. Orla G is a bad reporter in that she ALWAYS adds in her opinions rather than juts report the facts. She has already been banned by the Israelis which is why she was sent off to Africa but suddenly she appears back in the Middle East but only reporting from Lebanon as the BBC knew she wouldn't get any help on the israelis side.

Barney - stop playing the "chickenhawk" argument to try and protect Orla namely that no-one can criticise her unless they are Kate Adie or John Simpson etc!

PS I note that Channel 4 reported from exactly the same village that Orla did... how interesting therefore to see that in fact the village was NOT flattened but some buildings (housing Hezbollah civilian clothed fighters...?) were. The outskirts of the village and indeed most of the buildings were left untouched and Channel 4 reported on the same day as Orla. How DOES she explain that?

Sorry Barney, it's fair comment to criticise Orla's biased and emotional commentary masquerading as news reporting. My lack of journalistic training and time spent in the middle east is not relevant to Orla's bias. I'm frankly tired of the BBC and it's cheap and lazy liberal left journalism and mad as hell that I pay a licence fee to have it poured into my TV. If I wanted the Guardian I'd buy it. I don't and don't see why I have to pay to suffer our state funded and sponsored media monster adopting the same editorial policy and world-view.

BarneyYou make possibly the most silly comment I have ever read. I am not an actor but I know bad acting when I see it. This could apply to just about everything else. I hope if a member of your family died on an opperateing table, you would question the competence of the doctor?

One doctor that comes to mind killed over 300 of his patience, because people like you thought that profesionals knew what they were doing.

I watched the "news" report with increasing frustration. There was no attempt at balance and the obvious personal bias discredited it as serious reporting. Sure she has her own opinions but payng her wages to hear her opinion isn't what my licence fee is for.Do the BBC have editors for news programmes?I don't know about emoting; she has the dreariest voice and presentationon TV>

The great laugh is that there was a time when Germans listened to the BBC for the truth.I have no trouble getting all German TV stations...and you are 'more likely' to get good reporting there than the BBCrap.

Oh! poor Orla! Did some Israeli squaddie joke about putting a bullet in her biased head?

There are some who would have sawn it off & shown it on Arab TV....and not a single joke in sight.(Macles: "Isn't it a bit dangerous to start calling for the head of an individual reporter not to you taste then?") Now THERE'S a joke.

You can see this report if you type "Orla Guerin" into BBC's search, it's top video on the right.

I think the actual quote is "This is a bad chapter in Bush's war on terror." Other quotes include a camera surveying some abandoned munitions, "It is with these weapons that Hezbollah fought one of the most powerful armies in the world." Also, looking at a devasted street, "Israel tried and failed to take this town ... the international community may well ask how Israel can explain all this in the name of fighting Hezbollah." Perhaps because of the aforementioned fierce resistance?

If true, it's a shame she is married to a Palistinian. Imagine if she was married to Matt Frei, (BBC talking head, Washington). The mixture of arrogance, smugness and regurgative emoting could challenge even Peter Hain.

To the various anonymouses who diapprove of the Iain calling for OG's sacking. Unlike The Guardian or Fox News, we don't pay the wages of their biased reporters unless we choose to. With the BBC, we are forced to subsidise the news coverage, so are perfectly entitled as stakeholders to say we want the reporters sacked (it won't happen of course).

And to anonumouse 7:20; being smug about not buying a TV licence is not clever. You are no better than any other tax dodger or benefit cheat - ie just a common criminal. If you are not paying on principle - fine, but then you shuold publicise your name and make your case for non-payment in court.

For a laugh I've lodged a formal complaint with the BBC, but don't hold your breath...."In two separate news pieces from Orla Guerin in Bint Jbeil in Lebanon yesterday she gave a biased anti-israeli and anti-american commentary disguised as news, in fact based on the attached weblink, her commentary was misleading if not downright untruthfulhttp://drinkingfromhome.blogspot.com/2006/08/orla-guerin-busted.htmlIt goes further e.g. "In a month of fighting, Israel couldn’t beat Hezbollah - probably not how its ally the United States expected things to turn out. For George Bush this is a bad chapter in the war on terror" How can Olra say this? What does beating Hezbollah look like? On what basis can she make such observations? Has she asked George Bush or one of his spokesmen if this is a "bad chapter" or is it just Orla's opinion? A very shoddy piece of journalismWill be BBC take any action to remove this obviously biased reporter from the news programmes?Will the BBC apologise for what is clearly a misleading if not untruthful storyline? I await your rejection of this and your self-justification with interest

You lot are absolutely hilarious! I love this blog. Bees in bonnets and knickers in twists left right and centre.

All those who put their hands up in the air get a gold star but all of you get my smug lefty consternation for failing to acknowledge the BBC's most senior political voice, who is on screen all the damn time giving his opinions, speculations and gesticulations, is openly Conservative but still a good journalist.

We all have beliefs and interpretations - even the little people inside your TV set. I'm just amazed its taken so many of you this long to notice. No one heard of Edward Murrow or Bill O'Reilly?

Macles - I watch Tagesschau - Ann Will doesn't look too bad but she is liiert mit ihrer Freundin - and I suppose it has retained the more formal format of News which the BBC surrendered to Infotainment

She qualified as a journalist in 1985 with a Certificate in Journalism from the College of Commerce in Dublin. She also holds a Masters Degree in Film Studies from University College Dublin.

In 2002 Orla was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex and won the Broadcaster of the Year Award from the London Press Club. In 2003, she was awarded the News and Factual Award by Women in Film and Television UK.

Orla Guerin (born 15 May 1966, Dublin, Ireland) is the BBC Africa correspondent, based in Johannesburg. She first came to attention as a journalist and foreign correspondent with RTÉ News. Guerin joined RTÉ in 1987 and was their correspondent in Eastern Europe from 1990-4. Guerin left RTÉ to run as a Labour Party (Ireland) candidate in the 1994 elections to the European parliament. A political novice, Guerin had been hand picked by then Labour Party leader Dick Spring. Even though she was not selected at the party convention, Spring insisted that she be added to the ballot. Vilified as a "parachute" candidate, she did not win a seat (although she did poll relatively well). She joined the BBC in 1995. In 2003 she married Michael Georgy.

Drinking from home is spot on, as you have pointed out Iain. Guerin should be fired. But what’s more interesting is I'm noticing Channel 4 news being much more even handed - trying to explain the circumstances that their report is gathered in and the influence of the prevailing authority on its composition (where appropriate). In short they are becoming very professional - just saw an excellent report of this type on the 7pm Channel news tonight. When you do your next blog report with these guys Iain give them a pat on the back.

I know Orla. First of all, she's not married to a Palestnian, she's married to an Egyptian. They did, however, meet at an Israeli roadblock in the West Bank.As for the guy who claims she a) was held at gunpoint by Israeli soldiers and b) speaks Hebrew, he doesn't know what he's talking about. Neither of those things are true.What IS true is that Orla is a perfectly nice person, chatty, personable and lovely...except for the tiny problem of her distate for Jews. Not individual Jews, just Jews as a nation. I used to work with her. She simply has it in her head that Jews writ large don't deserve the same guarantees as the rest of the nations. By definition, Palestinians, Lebanese, et al are VICTIMS of Jewish agression, nevermind who threw the first stone. Nevermind who targets civilians. Nevermind all that stuff. Oh, and while we're at it...Americans. They're also boorish and unsophisticated. They don't see the noble savage as she does - a brave, honorable warrior whose way of life was destroyed by Western imperialism. I'll stop now...

It is a sad fact that 'reporters' disappeared from our screens years ago. Now everyone is an 'on-site commentator' which, funnnily enough, certain bloggers kick-up against when they are on a 'side' other than the one they back themselves but not when thee boot is on the other foot.

I am amazed at how so many 'good' conservatives seem to back the 'hoodie' of Israel rather than the 'Tony Martin' of the Palestinians who were kicked out of their homelands.

There is so much pro-Israel institutional bias in the BBC you cannot touch it - and this context makes any counter-view such as that from Orla or fergal stick out like a sore thumb. When, for example, do they mention the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in the camps? Or the terror of actions in the west bank by the Israeli 'army'?

My apologies IF it was Barbara Plett who suffered being held at gunpoint and threatened with death by the IDF. There was an issue of "from our own correspdonent" detailing the incident. I may have got the wrong reporter.

A final thought. A certain foreign office minister name of David Mellor once "went off on one" publically upbraiding IDF soldiers for what he saw as unwarranted mistreatment of (I think) Palestinians. In any case, without even having a gun to his head, or any threats to leave in a body bag that he knew of, a Conservative Minister of the Crown really lost his rag. Orla was quite calm by comparison.

Iain, the point is about 'bias' 'objectivity' and 'reporting'. What would satisfy you? If someone has lived through such events how else can they describe them except from their point of view. Every human being has some degree of feeling and emotion. Yours too would have been roused living through such events exactly as a Cosnervative government minister in the 1980's.

Well, some posters have been proved to have lied by saying that Guerin was married to a Palestinian and that she never was kidnapped by Israelis in the manner described earlier. The lies appear to be coming from the pro-Israeli side on this blog.

Given that the BBC has considerably more strictures placed on it than the arrogant posters here, there is no comparison as to who people trust more, and it isn't this comments section.

And if anyone starts with that bull about paying for the BBC, if you had enough balls you wouldn't pay your licence fee instead of pathetically bleating about how your tax money is used.

Iain, your comments are well measured but, and it is unfortunate, you attract comments from many undesirables in the Conservative party. They hate Cameron and disagree with every stance (as on Israel) that he has taken, and I, for one, would be glad to see them expelled from the party forthwith.

Helen, in equal measure, people telling blatant lies about Orla Guerin, and lying about the veracity of my posts also sign in as anonymous (on some occasions). When they name themselves and hurl ad hominems of the lowest order in my direction, they get the post deleted and a yellow card ;-)

Anonymous 9:33 - What makes you think we are members of the Conservative Party, Mong, old thing? You can't expel me "forthwith" because I resigned some time ago, and I have already stated my intention of not voting for them this time if Dave is still the leader. So you're going to be denied the pleasure of seeing me "expelled forthwith". You seem to be an angry little tight-ass. What is your problem?

No one "lied" about Orla Guerrin. Someone mistakenly said she was married to a Palestinian. I was actually under that impression myself. People don't lie about things like that on the internet, you authoritarian nitwit. They are too easily checked.

Isn't her assertion that the Israelis couldn't take the town false also? I think they took it twice and received lots of criticism internally for prematurely abandoning it the first time. You have to admire her ability to keep facts from interrupting her loving ode to the Resistance.

'I am talking about the "Jewish evacuation": the extermination of the Jewish people....'And then along they all come, all the 80 million upright Germans, and each one has his decent Jew. They say: all the others are swine, but here is a first-class Jew.'

So that's all right then, it's nothing personal; Orla's a nice person.... just like Himmler was???

"In a month of fighting, Israel couldn’t beat Hezbollah - probably not how its ally the United States expected things to turn out. For George Bush this is a bad chapter in the war on terror"

If this is the line of reporting she took, I can't say I really have a problem with it. I mean, there isn't actually anything wrong with it.

If we look at what has happened, it's a true reflection of it. Can anybody here honestly say that Israel did beat Hizbullah in their month-long campaign? That Bush would string out his support for such a campaign with no return to show for it? That, in the face of defeating terrorism for all us Freedom-Lovin' Folks, it isn't a bad chapter in his War On Terror?

I don't think that it's a matter of airing a personal opinion, but a comment based on observations.

It's certainly one that I would share, anyway, regardless of my political position. Israel couldn't get the job done and it's given strength to the Axis of Evil because of it. That's the awful truth and we now have to deal with it.

There is much more evidence for Robinson's Toryism than Guerin's alleged anti-semitism.

He is a former chairman of the Young Conservatives. And all you can come up with for Guerin is that she said it was a bad day for Bush and married an Egyptian.

More to the point, my argument was that Robinson has personal views but is a good journalist, ergo evidence of Guerin's personal views (and what evidence it's been - the false allegation she's married to a *gasp* Palestinian) is not evidence that she is an inaccurate journalist.

Love it - just last week you lot were agreeing its not racist to talk about immigration. But it seems Orla's anti-semitic to make observations about the Middle East while reporting from the Middle East.

It's the irony and hypocrisy that makes this the blog such good entertainment.

Barney, have you had your eyes closed and your ears plugged when Guerin reports? Her record is one of consistent bias, and you only have to do any kind of basic internet search to find dozens of examples of bias now logged against her. Note the lack of detail about Robinson - so what, he was a young tory. You name me a former tory at the beeb, and I will name you two from labour. Wake up. Also many of Guerin's ex-collegaues have gone on record about her anti-Israel and anti-American attitude. Fine, it is a free world, I just shouldn't have to pay for the bitch to tell her lies to the world. Guerin of course also has a political past.

I fear speaking to you is futile, for you seem utterly stupid and to have have missed most of the points people have made against Guerin. Your stupidity has brightened an otherwise dull day.

The problem was somebody lying through their teeth about "knowing Orla Guerin". I had quoted a story a remembered from a radio broadcast. I hadn't checked it. I suggested I may have made an error too early. I wasn't actually expecting people to come out of the woodwork writing deliberate lies to try, in their deluded minds, to bolster their "case" against this journalist. I stuck to facts. It's better.

I'm the anonymous who posted that he knows Orla and that she was never held at gunpoint. I clicked on that link and it appears that I may have been wrong.However, she never told me about that and I'm pretty sure it would've come up in all of our heated, albeit friendly discussions.As for Barbara Plett, do me a favor, mate. She told me flat out to my face that Hamas' bombings of pizzerias could theoretically be construed as military targets because all the young people will serve in the army one day and all the old people have served.mind you, she could never play devils advocate with a settlers' point of view. they're evil incarnate, full stop, as far as she's concerned. What a great journalist.I'm so glad I've returned stateside, cuz the sickening strain of British anti-semitism that shows up on these boards is something I'm happy to be away from. Yes, I said it. Anti-Semitism. "Oooh, you horrible person. I'm just legitimately criticizing Israeli GOVERNMENT policy, not condeming Jews." Do me a favor, mate, and look in the mirror and ask yourself why you're not sick to your stomach about Hizbullah's war crimes - operating in civilian areas, launching indiscriminate missiles over population centers, etc. When you select one group for bad behavior and hold them to a different standard, you've got the disease...

Macles-I have read the BBC link.So Guerlin says she was held.But you did not mention the all-important context, that she had walked into a perfectly proper IDF undercover operation against what even she admits were armed terrorists (or "militants").

Your earlier post gave the misleading impression that she and her crew were picked up on the street for no reason.The soldiers had no alternative but to hold her and the crew until the operation was over. Standard MO in all armies in battle. OK one or two may have been rude,(BUT I do have doubts about Guerin's credibilty on that and would like to know where and when she learnt Hebrew) but that is what stress does to young squaddies. The IDF are fighting an exceptionally dangerous enemy.The fact that the use of a weapon had to be confirmed by several soldiers before the sniper opened fire is hardly indicative of the IDF being a cruel army!

I'm glad that you've returned Stateside too. This thread is about Orla Guerin and reporting. You now resort to casting absurd allegations of anti-Semitism at not just me (I presume) but the British in general. Moreveover, your Rovian "dissembling" won't work here. Say the words "I was wrong" - you might add "sorry". Fortunately, the British won't be fooled by disgusting, transparent misniformation and pure hypocrisy and there I refer purely to your earlier post claiming I "didn't know what I was talking about". You were wrong, so say so.

simon mcilwaine. Accusing me now of misleading people when in fact somebody came on this board to claim I had invented a story, is the transparently disingenuous. Once more, Rovian dissembling won't work here. There is a built in filter thank goodness this side of the Atlantic.

So why,Macles,did your earlier posting drop the all-important context which might have clarified why Ms Guerlin was held up,namely the fact that she had walked into a battlefield with armed terrorists and the soldiers could not afford to have had their position compromised? Note that she does not seem to contest the fact that the IDF were dealing with gun-toting terrorists. She seems coyly not to challenge the fact that this was all they were doing on this occasion. I think she knew the soldiers were acting lawfully in opening fire.Certain people are trying to create the impression that the IDF are always capricious and that the Israeli Army is the only army with young squaddies who get stroppy when in dangerous situations. Can you blame them? Remember what happened to the reservists who took a wrong turn and sought refuge in a PA "police station".They were torn, limb from limb. As WAlid Shoebat, repentant former PLO terrorist, has said: "I know what happens to Jews who go the wrong way in these places and get lost-don't you?"Moreover, what certain TV reporters call "just stones" are usually whopping great concrete blocks! And unlike you, Macles, I use my full name when I post comments! Why don't you do the same?

The odd thing is, I don't like Orla Guerin - because to me she seems totally emotionally uninvolved. I also fancy she models herself on Kate Adie without that odd quirk of Kate's personality to make it acceptable.

lord simpson (liberator) of Kabul needs to get his facts straught instaead of swallowing anti BBC, anti Orla Guerin propaganda.Orla's husband Michael Georgy is a recognised and respected Reuters correspondent and is not Palestinian.

Verity also dislikes Orla's harsh criticism of Israel's misdeeds. Have you ever listened to Bill O'Reilly on FOX News, Verity?As long as this outrageously biased so called news company exists, nobody should ever think about damning the Beeb.

OK Simon McIlwaine, we will use your term and deem the Palestinian kids' weapons as "great concrete blocks" instead of "just stones" when they stand in front of 60 ton Israeli tanks and hurl these things at the poor Israelis inside who then answer with tank rounds.Make you feel any better?